Ecology
The scientific study of the distribution and abundance of organisms and the interactions that determine distribution and abundance
Begon, Harper, Townsend, 2006, Ecology, Blackwell
Lecture outline
1. The evolution of life and life histories2. The flux of energy and matter3. Individuals and populations4. Ecological communities5. Positive and negative species interactions6. Trophic networks7. Distributions in time8. Distributions in space9. Function and diversity10. The human impact
Ecology is the scientific study of the distribution and abundance of organisms and the interactions that determine distribution and abundance
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Ernst Haeckel(1834-1919)
The term ecology was coined 1866 by Ernst Haeckel in his habilitation lecture.
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Ecology deals with patterns and with processes in the living world.
Aims of ecology:
Describing the place of living beings in their environmentExplaining abundances, distributions, and interactions of living beingsPredicting the changes in the abundance and distribution of living beingsControling changes in the abundance and distribution of living beings
Autecology deals with the life history of single speciesPopulation ecology deals with the abundance and distribution of a group of interbreeding organismsCommunity ecology deals with a group of interacting speciesEvolutionary ecology deals with the evolutionary history of todays ecological systems
The basic units of ecological research are GenesIndividualsPopulationsSpecies
What is ecology?
The scientific study of the distribution and abundance of organisms and the interactions that determine
distribution and abundance
Distribution and abundance might relate to genes, individuals, populations, or species
The manifold of genes or species is called diversity.
Applied to all living beings we speak of biodiversity
Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913)
Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882)
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
-600 -500 -400 -300 -200 -100 0
Nu
mb
er
of
fam
ilie
s
z
K O S D C P T J Kr Pa N
Mass extinctions
E
Number of marine families
Species home range
Time
Allopatric speciation is generally slow
Peripatric speciation might be fast
Allopatric , peripatric, and sympatric speciation
Spatial breeding barrier
Allopatric and peripatric speciation: New species emerge by genetic divergence in geographically isolated regions
Sympatric speciation: New species emerge within the same habitat by any other breeding barrier. The include behavioural, resource use, or morphological barriers.
Tinamou
Ostrich
RheaSpotted Kiwi
North Island KiwiSouth Island Kiwi
Great Kiwi
Time80 0
Cassowary
Emu
Tinamou
The diversification of species
Australia
New Zealand
South Amercia / Africa
Low diversity of nine speciesComparably high genetic diversity
Today’s biodiversity is largely caused by evolutionary history and plate tectonics
Rhea
Cassowary
Postglacial colonization of Europe
Hewitt G.M. 1999. Postglacial recolonisation of European biota. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 68: 87-112.
During the last 10,000 years Central and Northern Europe was recolonised from multiple glacvial refuges where species survived the ice age.
The refuges are centres of gentic diversification.
Major refuges where: The MaghrebSpainTurkeySicilyCyrpusCrete
We reconstruct colonisation routs by the analysis of genetic diversity across Europe.
Because colonising populations are often small they are generically impoverished (founder effect).
Colonisation gradient
Founder effectsOrdered genetic loss
Relict populationsVicariant (scattered) genetic loss
Colonisation gradient
Carabus auronitens
Postglacial colonization of Europe
The allele - sites matrix is sorted according to allele richness
Popu-lations
Postglacial colonisation of European Tenebrionidae (Coleoptera)
Three major postglacial refuges with high numbers of endemics and high rates of glacial speciation
Three major colonisation routes
Reconstruction of postglacial colonisation using phylogenetic relatedness of species
Past and present fragmentation
Distribution of South American rainforest refugia (100,000 to 20,000 BP) based on the overlap of postulated refugia for birds, butterflies and plants. Shading represents probability
of locations being refugial. Whitmore, T.C. ,Prance, G.T. 187. Biogeography and Quaternary History in Tropical America. Blackwell.
Suboptimum
Ecological niches
Optimum
Water
Ligh
t Two niche dimensions of a plant
A given habitat filters species according to the abiotic conditions
Condition
Perf
orm
ance
Performance of a species
Repro-duction
Growth
Survival
G Evelyn Hutchinson, 1903-1991
The niche is the role a species plays in a community, rather than a habitat.
The niche is the sum of the habitat requirements that allow a
species to persist and produce offspring.
The niche is an n-dimensional hypervolume, where the
dimensions are environmental conditions and the resources that
define the requirements of an individual or a species to practise
Charles Elton, 1900-1991 Joseph Grinnell, 1877-1939
Profession
Place
Condition
Perf
orm
ance
Ecological niches emerge from differences in performance along the gradient of habitat conditions
Generalist speciesSpecialist
species
Formally a niche is the place of a species within a multidimensional hypervolume spanned by all resources used by this species.
Generalist species have relatively broad niches in comparison to specialist species.
A habitat is the place where a species occurs. Do not mismatch habitat and niche!
Condition
Perf
orm
ance
Fundamental nicheRealized
niche
Number of resources
Trop
hic p
ositi
on
Ground beetles (Carabidae) on Mazurian lake islands
Error bars denote a standard errorbasal
top
The carbon isotope ratio of body tissues (13C ⁄ 12C = δ13C) depends on resource width, while the nitrogen isotope ratio (15N ⁄ 14N = δ15N) increases in insects with trophic level.
Parts of the species are well segregated in trophic niche space, while another part of species highly overlaps in resource use.
The plot shows also three different guilds of species with similar resourse use.
Zalewski et al. 2013, Ann.Zool.Fenn
CA + D--H+ + E + S → (CH2O)n + DA + ES
The basic resources of life
(CH2O)nLight
Chemical reaction
Water, HydrocompoundsCO2
(CH2)nH2
Phototroph
Chemotroph
Organotroph
LithotrophAutotroph
Heterotroph
6CO2 + 6H2O + light + ADP → C6H12O6 + 6O2+ ATP Green plants, Cyanobacteria
C6H12O6 + C6H12O6 + O2 + ADP → (CH2O)n + CO2 + H2O + ATP Animals, fungi
CO2 + NH3 + O2 + ADP → (CH2O)n + HNO2 + H2O ATP Nitrosomonas bacteria
Facultative store of energy excess
Organic compounds
Waste
Carbon source
Proton source Energy
Energy storage
Organic compounds
Electron acceptor
Reduction Oxidation
Energy storage
Resources and feeding types
Energy source
Electron donator
Carbon source Trophic group
Light(Photo)
Organic(Organo)
Organic(Hetero) Photoorganoheterotrophs
Inorganic(Auto: CO2)
Photoorganoautotrophs
Inorganic(Litho)
Organic(Hetero) Photolithoheterotrophs
Inorganic(Auto: CO2)
Photolithoautotrophs
Radioactivity Inorganic(Litho)
Inorganic(Auto: CO2
Radiolithoautotrophs
Chemical compound(Chemo)
Organic(Organo)
Organic(Hetero) Chemoorganoheterotrophs
Inorganic(Auto: CO2)
Chemoorganoautotrophs
Inorganic(Litho)
Organic(Hetero) Chemolithoheterotrophs
Inorganic(Auto: CO2)
Chemolithoautotrophs
Animals, fungi, green plants
Cyanobacteria, green plants
Firmicutes heat tolerant Eubacteria
Purple non-sulfur bacteria
Iron bacteria, Archaea
Spirochaetes
Trophic niche spaces in eukaryotes
Mineralisers
Producers
Green plants
Animals
Fungi, slime moulds, animals
Fungivores
Herbivores
Omnivores
Parasites
Omnivores are animals that feed on
other animals and plants
The specific trophic needs of organisms define their trophic niche.
Trophic niches are generally not species specific. They are highly variable in time and space. Consumers
Saprovores
Carnivores
Reducers
Latin GreekHerbivore PhytophageCarnivore ZoophageFungivore MycetophageOmnivore PantophageSaprovore SaprophageMicrovore MicrophageBacteriovore Bacteriophage